All posts tagged Dianne Feinstein

A top Senate Democrat on Sunday said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should quiet down his vocal campaign to scuttle the tentative nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers.

“I wish he would contain himself,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the senior Democrat on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, told CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Ms. Feinstein’s comments came on a day in which Mr. Netanyahu made the rounds on U.S. talk shows, denouncing the Iran nuclear-framework agreement as one that threatens Israel’s existence.

Mr. Netanyahu inserted himself in U.S. politics on the matter in March when he accepted a Republican invitation to address Congress and express opposition to the deal being hashed out between a U.S.-led group of nations and Teheran. Democrats considered the invitation—and its acceptance—a breach of Capitol Hill protocol and an infringement on the president’s ability to conduct foreign policy. Read More »

Sunday’s talk shows drew out lawmakers and administration officials on a range of topics, from Israel to the effort in Congress to continue funding the Department of Homeland Security. Here’s a roundup of the top five quotes from the Sunday shows: Read More »

Secretary of State John Kerry defended U.S.-led international diplomatic efforts to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon and argued Israel is already safer as a result of the talks.
Speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” Mr. Kerry also implicitly criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for suggesting the talks were threatening Israel’s safety. Read More »

A pair of top Senate Democrats warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week that his planned speech to Congress next week could have “lasting repercussions” that negatively affect U.S.-Israeli relations, suggesting instead a private meeting between the Jewish leader and U.S. lawmakers. Read More »

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R., N.C.) has asked the White House to return copies of the congressional report on CIA interrogation tactics, several people familiar with the matter said, eliciting an angry response from the report’s author, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.).

A White House spokesman would not comment on how the Obama administration would proceed, and it’s unclear how many copies of the 6,300-page classified report were sent by Senate Democrats in December to the White House or other federal agencies. Read More »

Several Central Intelligence Agency officials made a “mistake” but didn’t act in “bad faith” when they accessed the emails of top congressional investigators during a secretive review of the spy agency’s interrogation techniques last year, according to a review board set up by the CIA. Read More »

Lawmakers from both parties raised doubts on Sunday over whether the Justice Department should file charges against former Gen. David Petraeus for mishandling classified information.

Prosecutors have recommended charges be filed against Gen. Petraeus for allegedly providing classified information to his former mistress, people familiar with the discussions said on Friday. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) said Sunday that the former director the Central Intelligence Agency and commander of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan had suffered enough.

“It’s done, it’s over. And he’s retired. He’s lost his job,” she said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “How much does government want?”

Gen. Petraeus, once hailed as a military visionary, was forced out of his position leading the CIA because of an extramarital affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell. People familiar with the probe have said that both Gen. Petraeus and Ms. Broadwell have told investigators she didn’t receive any classified intelligence. Read More »

Attorney General Eric Holder will appear on four of the top news shows this Sunday. Other guests scheduled to appear are key Congress members. Here are the guest lineups, as compiled by the Associated Pres. Read More »

As Central Intelligence Agency director John Brennan gave a rare news conference, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) used social media to make sure he did not get the last word on a Senate committee’s report detailing the agency’s interrogation program.

Throughout Mr. Brennan’s hour-long news conference, Ms. Feinstein’s Twitter account posted responses to the CIA director, complete with citations to the study. The tweets from Ms. Feinstein, who is the Senate Intelligence Committee chairwoman, were direct and offered an instant rebuttal to those watching Mr. Brennan’s remarks. Read More »

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